MEDIA BIAS

The most commonly discussed forms of bias occur when the media support or attack a particular political party, candidate, or ideology, but other common forms of bias include

• Advertising bias, when stories are selected or slanted to please advertisers.

• Corporate bias, when stories are selected or slanted to please corporate owners of media.

• Mainstream bias, a tendency to report what everyone else is reporting, and to avoid stories that will offend anyone.

• Sensationalism, bias in favor of the exceptional over the ordinary, giving the impression that rare events, such as airplane crashes, are more common than common events, such as automobile crashes.